


The Unknown Man

by fraudoc



Category: Klaus (Game)
Genre: Gen, nobody knows this game but that'll never stop me
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-13
Updated: 2016-10-22
Packaged: 2018-06-08 02:29:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 3,308
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6835348
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fraudoc/pseuds/fraudoc
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A series of drabbles about the characters from Klaus, some featuring an AU where both K1 and Klaus escaped.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> All of them are really short, which I'm sorry about, but writing this stuff's hard when you're one of two people doing it and you have trouble putting down ideas in text form.

"Klaus' name is Klaus Spiegel," K1 starts, currently busy with a 2DS he's nearly finished putting back together. Klaus nods from his spot on the couch, slouched down and eyes barely focusing on the TV in front of him.  
  
"Uh-huh."  
  
"Dad's name was Klaus Spiegel."  
  
"Yuh-huh?"  
  
"So shouldn't Klaus be Klaus Jr.?" There's a tiny snap as the back of the handheld is set into place, and K1 lets out a small satisfied sound while he checks it over. His shorter clone is still thinking over the question from where he sits, turning some to look towards K1.  
  
"You've got a point, I guess. Maybe I should be 'junior.'" Saying the name makes his nose wrinkle. He's not even sure if he wants to be related to the guy they're both supposed to call 'dad.' Getting reminded of him just makes Klaus remember all the others, the thoughts of him just being _another_ Klaus, one of hundreds of copies of the same man... "I don't really like the sound of it- Klaus Spiegel junior. It's too long." K1 hums and tilts his head.  
  
"K1 doesn't think dad would mind sharing his name."  
  
"Yeah. He sure didn't have a problem sharing his face." Klaus gives a small, strained grin, and K1 laughs, flipping the 2DS back off before moving to settle in beside him.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A late night talk after Klaus and K1 play Portal 2 and come to a scene that's a little too familiar.

Klaus moves first, pressing his thumb to the button in the middle of his controller. "That's enough for today," he says, gaze straight ahead of them. "It's getting late. You can play tomorrow." K1 nods and turns his head towards Klaus, who's already getting up and heading to the bedroom. He should say something, probably, but any thoughts he has about what to tell him aren't connecting right and one wrong word could make him more upset. So instead he silently follows behind, giving the other man all the space he needs to settle in for the night.  
  
Later, when K1's curled up on his mattress and Klaus is staring at the ceiling on his own, words start to fit together better. He rolls over to face his smaller clone and lifts his head, voice as quiet as he can make it. "Klaus isn't like Wheatley."

Klaus doesn't move, so he keeps talking.  
  
"Klaus didn't know what was happening. Wheatley does. Klaus wasn't in control. You were doing what the electricity told you to do, to be free. To be stronger." He shifts, eyes downcast, bunching himself up tighter. "K1 knows that." _K1 knows what that's like._  
  
Klaus doesn't speak for a long while, still staring at the ceiling. The larger android uncurls himself while he thinks and lays stomach-first on his bed, eyes shutting. Just before he begins to drift off, he hears a voice, higher than his and to his left, murmur "thanks" with a relieved sigh. He smiles, then shuts off for the night.


	3. Chapter 3

"Do you think I should grow a beard?" He asks in the middle of work, and Julia leans down to kiss his cheek with a chuckle.  
  
"Maybe. I think you would look pretty handsome." One of her hands cups his jaw, and the his right one moves to gently touch hers. "Plus," she adds, pulling away, "it might help your babyface."  
  
"I have a babyface?"  
  


  
Later, just before bed, Klaus leans out of the bathroom with a toothbrush hanging out of his mouth.  
  
"We'll see how the mustache goes. _Then_ , maybe a beard." Julia smiles and nods, setting her laptop aside as he makes his way out and towards her.  
  


* * *

 

  
He keeps the mustache for ten years. When he's sitting with K1, it- he, reaches out and carefully puts his fingers to the side of Klaus' face. Klaus doesn't jerk away, but he does look from the hand to K1's face. The android thinks for a moment before trying to speak.  
  
"Dad's face is like K1's."  
  
"You were made to look like me."  
  
"But this," he ever-so-gently pushes his fingers onto the greyed cheek, and then reaches up to his own. "K1 and dad both have this?"  
  
"It's stubble. It can grow into hair after a while, if you let it."  
  
"So K1 can look more like dad?" K1 grins, a sight that gets more common every day, and puts his hand under his nose to imitate his creator's facial hair. Klaus gives an uneasy smile back.  
  
"Sure. Maybe one day."

  
  
Klaus never tells him that he can't grow much more than that- K1 can't, specifically. As he hunches over a metal body closer to his size, twisting wires together, he considers improving that in the next model.


	4. Chapter 4

Mirrors were a new thing he had to get used to. There weren't any hidden away in the basement, and all particularly reflective surfaces were dirtied and dulled with age. Not that K1 ever needed them, having a pretty good idea of what he looked like- tall, strong, and a little like dad. There were more important things he had to focus on down there anyway, especially with the arrival of someone new.

So the first time he gets a good look at himself, it's a little jarring. He has to lean down some so he can look at his entire face, otherwise only his chin and cheeks are visible. A hand reaches up, poking at his stubble and, when his mouth opens, his sharpened canines (dad's teeth didn't look like that, from what he can remember, but it's not like he ever got the chance to look too closely.) Slamming it shut again, K1 hums. _No wonder Klaus was scared,_ he thinks, brushing a hand through unkempt hair. _K1 looks like... Looks like a..._ His words don't come so easy then, so he shakes his head to focus more on his appearance. Klaus himself finally comes by after he spends minutes prodding and pushing at the synthetic skin of his face and jaw, grabbing his arm to tug him away towards the rest of their new apartment. It's a welcome distraction, but his thoughts stay on the mirror.


	5. Chapter 5

"Alright big boy, you stay here. This a job for Klaus." K1 gave an affirmative nod, blank smile still on his face as the other man walked ahead, through a crevice in the wall much too small for K1. A moment passed, and the larger man sat on the cold metal floor, legs out in front of him, waiting for a command or for Klaus to return or anything else.  
  
Another minute of waiting, and his head turned, searching for something. His eyes landed on one of the many cameras carefully hidden throughout the building. After staying here for so long, he had learned nearly every single one's locations. (Or thought he did, anyway- who knew where some were hidden so that his and Klaus' adventure could be caught from every angle.)  
  
"K1 doesn't know if Player can hear him," he started, "or if Player is paying attention. But K1 is glad you're here." A grin, and K1 leaned himself back, propping his torso up on his hands. "Both Player and Klaus. K1 has been alone for a long time- almost longer than he can remember. But now that people are here, K1 feels happier."  
  
He paused, head tilting to the side, looking away from the camera. "K1 does not know where we're going, or where he, Klaus, and Player will end up. But..." Another pause, and he nodded. "K1 wants to follow Klaus to the end. So he will stay as long as Player will have him." His head turned back to let him flash a grin at the camera just as he felt that regular buzz to move, to let Player tell him what to do. K1's fist connected with the green wall with a resounding thud and a grunt of effort, and while he rubbed at his knuckles and watched the metal disintegrate, he turned again, mouth twisting into another grin. With Player guiding the two of them, he thought as he jogged farther into the building, he was sure both he and Klaus would be fine.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the true ending, K1 tries to get some answers.

It's only after K1's _sure_ that he's gone, sure that Klaus is far past the building's rooftop and on his way to becoming his own person, away from everything the Korp building represents, that his head tilts back down from the pipe his clone was thrown through. It's only after he assures himself that Klaus will be safe and happier up there than he ever was down here (if he ever _was_ safe or happy), does he focus back on the man standing in front of him. Dad's still grumbling to himself about that mech, about how much it costs, how much time and energy was used to build it only to be destroyed by- and he stops himself to look back over at K1, eyes narrowing as though he's offended that he stuck around.

  
"Well? What are you still here for?" Dad frowns, making a little shooing motion with his hand. "You've got your whole basement to yourself again. Go have fun!"

  
"K1 wanted to talk." His voice, like before, is soft and uncertain. His hands fuss with his tie. "About what dad said--"

  
" _Don't_ call me that." His harsh tone makes K1 draw in on himself, clutching his tie tighter. "And I don't want to hear another word out of you! You got what you wanted. You made a little friend, you caused millions of dollars in damage, and you saw me again. Great! Now _leave_."

  
K1 swallows, but doesn't leave. Instead he tries again, voice slightly louder as he steps ahead. "Dad..."

  
"What did I just say?!" The man turns to properly look at him this time, and he nearly jumps out of his skin at how much closer the android is. His eyes dart around the surrounding floor, K1's gaze following. _Dad's looking for something,_ he thinks, eyebrows furrowing, _to protect himself with_. It's easy enough to figure out; he saw that same look on Klaus' face when they first met. But the mech and all the parts broken off from it had fallen into the crevice to their right, and the only thing on the same floor as him is K1 himself. Did he need something? _Did he think K1 was going to hurt him?_ "And stay back! God knows what you'll do if you get any closer."

  
That and his thoughts make K1 freeze. His hands, still holding tight onto what's left of his tie, looking back down at dad. He has no idea what sort of expression he's making, but judging by his creator's reaction, it isn't good. "First Julia, then the mech, and now what's to stop you from coming after me? You're lucky I haven't found a way to shut you down! For mine and everyone else's sake!" This time it's him moving forward, glare steady on the robot opposite to him. "Klaus should be thankful you didn't go on a rampage in front of him. He'd beg to leave if he knew the truth about you've done- what you turned into instead of what you were supposed to be!" He's so caught up in his rant that he doesn't seem to notice how close he is to K1 now, the android reeling back as his hands shake. "A mistake made you, and that's what you are now. One monstrous mista--"

 

" ** _Stop!_** "

  
He must not have noticed K1's hands move from his tie to his sides, then, and didn't know how quickly they could grab onto his collar. Electricity hums in the air around them as dad's lifted by his sweater. K1 snarls back at him once they're eye-level, with his creator struggling in his hands and his own optics a faint blue.

  
"K1 didn't mean to do anything! What happened wasn't his fault!" With each word, K1 shakes him slightly, making sure to keep their eyes locked. "K1 didn't want to kill anyone- K1 doesn't even remember doing anything before! All K1 remembers is..." His voice softens suddenly, grip on the other loosening. It's almost enough to have him break free, almost, but K1's focus returns as well as his hold. When he speaks again, he's quieter, silver stare breaking to look at the floor.

  
"All I remember is coming to the basement and staying there, and wanting to see dad again... That was all K1 wanted." Their gazes are forced to meet again as K1's head lifts, with dark, oily tears starting well in his eyes. "And then K1 came here, and saw dad trying to destroy his only friend... K1 didn't want to hurt the mech. I didn't want to hurt Julia." A swallow. "K1 doesn't even want to hurt dad." And with that, his creator is unceremoniously dropped with a dull thud and an " _oof._ "

  
Dad- no, _Klaus Spiegel_ moves himself away as he shakily stands. K1 looks at the wall rather than him, hand wiping his eyes and voice thick. "K1 wanted dad to be happy to see him. But now K1 knows better." A sniff, another wipe, and the android's expression hardens. "K1 shouldn't be here. I might be a king, but... K1 doesn't want to be king of nothing. So he won't be." He takes a step forward and Spiegel throws his arms over himself, cowering in fear. When no hit comes his arms move, head turning towards the sound of fading footsteps to watch the robot walk out and away to an emergency elevator.

  
Klaus Spiegel gapes then, and against his better judgement, cups a hand around his mouth to yell at the departing android. "You're leaving too?! I told Klaus there's nothing up there for him, and it'll be the same for you- probably worse! You're not ready for the world, you never will be!"

  
K1 shakes his head as he steps in, gently pressing the top floor button with his forefinger. "That's for K1 to see," he starts, just as the door shuts, "and both K1 and Klaus to find out." With those parting words, and with Spiegel still staring up at him, the elevator starts to ascend.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Klaus goes back through a memory.

Klaus doesn't dream when he sleeps. Even his predecessor, with all his knowledge and talent for making him almost seem like a regular human being, couldn't find a way to program in something as complicated as dreams. It's another thing to check off in his mental list of "stuff that reminds me that I'm a robot."

Instead, he remembers things. Sometimes it's nothing, passing through what he did that day or the day before; sometimes he walks through memories of the Korp building with K1 at his side, all of it so clear it's like the two of them are back in the basement.

(On those nights he forces himself to wake up, sweating and clutching at himself. Blinking in the darkness, Klaus looks from the walls of their shared bedroom to K1 snoring on a futon a few feet away. When he's totally convinced that the both of them are safe and out of the building, he wills himself to lay down and try to sleep again.)

Tonight, though, he's not jumping through puzzles at Korp or retracing his steps in the streets of LA. His footsteps now are quiet echoes on a floor that isn't really there, vision hazed by some strange fog. There's light surrounding him, dim but close enough where he can still see, as though everything's faintly glowing.

Memories are always weird, but at least they're easy to get through.

" _I'm left handed_ ," it starts off with, the text appearing over his head surrounded by disembodied arms. Player's not here to read it this time around, but his brain doesn't know that, so he's forced to stop while someone that isn't there absorbs that riveting three word sentence before starting forward again.

" _I had a brother_ ," accompanied by the sound of crying. " _He didn't have the same luck_." That part's stuck with him ever since the first repeat of this memory. Klaus' hands clench at his sides, something small he's thankfully in control of here. Klaus wonders- perhaps a bit dryly, perhaps a bit inappropriately- if this is a universal constant he's stuck with. If he's destined to repeat Dad's past as well as future no matter how much he resists it.

_Absorb one brother in the womb, temporarily electrocute another. Six of one half a dozen the other, huh?_

Klaus meant for it to be funny but he doesn't laugh, only goes ahead.

Most of the memory passes by in a blur, Klaus' head faintly buzzing as he jumps and runs past pictures of the man he was based off of as a kid. By now he's found things go smoother if he doesn't focus on the artificial childhood in his head.

" _College was a hard time. Just another student_." This part, too, has been kept in his head since the repeats. " _I wasn't special anymore_." The android snorts as he passes through silhouettes of himself. If he didn't feel special then, imagine how he felt now, making copies of himself. And imagine not even being the original. His jaw clenches before he takes a second to relax, letting out a shaky breath. Working himself up here before he even woke up was a bad idea. Just a little further and he'd be done. Eyes focusing straight ahead, Klaus moves on.

" _But I found someone there_." The ghost of Player stops him like before, and Klaus stands at the base of what he first guessed was a random bunch of shapes, though he now knows it's a woman's body. Faint laughter chimes in his ears as he climbs up. " _Someone I thought I loved_." He averts his eyes from the scene to his side again, feeling an uncomfortable knot in the pit of his stomach. I don't know this woman, Klaus tells himself, but the memories replaying in his head say differently. The hand brushing through his hair and over the back of his head feels so real then, the glint of a smile, her leaning in towards him...

Klaus is more than a little relieved when he finally reaches the door. _One last room._

He doesn't bother looking at the machines whirring beside him as he runs past. The first time through he wished Player hadn't simply skipped them, but by the fourth repeat he learned that they didn't matter. Neither did the woman from before or his time at college. None of his so-called memories mattered.

_I remember this._

He wakes up to K1 gently jostling his bed and murmuring his name. Once his brother sees that he's awake he stops, looking down at Klaus with a worried frown. It takes him a moment to speak- gathering his words, Klaus guesses.

"K1 woke up, and Klaus looked upset. So he wanted to make sure Klaus was okay." He mumbles once he has a grip on what he wants to say. One hand moves to rest near his arm. Klaus huffs, patting his forearm.

"Yeah, thanks. I'm fine."

"Klaus is sure?"

"I'm sure, I'm good. It's okay." K1's arm gets another pat and he sits up, making his brother step away. He still looks unsure, but gives a smile all the same. He mutters something about breakfast and, after making sure that Klaus is okay again, leaves to the kitchen. Now alone, Klaus lays himself back down and sighs, glaring at the ceiling. His "dream" and the memories that came with it will be moved to the back of his mind sometime throughout the day- he might even forget that it happened at all if he distracts himself enough.

Sliding off the bed, he rubs at his eyes with his hands as he pads out to join K1. _Might as well get a head start on that._


End file.
